Today in class, we were discussing how technology is becoming more common place in schools, especially the pros and cons about it. Having technology in clas could come in handy, but it's a distraction for some.
Something that came up were books, especially textbooks, being downloaded onto iphones and such are more handy than actual textbooks. In a few years, will books become a crutch? What do you guys think?

I hope books don't become obsolete cause there's nothing that can replace some books like car manuals. I don't think the car dealership is going to say "Buy a nook, so you can download and read this manual for your car." So my opinion is that books aren't a crutch.

Textbooks probably. Not so sure about stuff like novels and such. A lot of people, including me, prefer having real books as opposed to looking at yet another screen. The difference between this and textbooks is that textbooks are only used for class; I doubt anyone will use a textbook again once the course is over.

Another thing is that literally, almost everyone (at least in countries that are fortunate to have them) reads books. That means that e-readers, such as the Kindle, will have to become veeeeeeeerrry much more commonplace. The kindle also faces all of the problems of most gadgets as well. Another article puts it as "short attention span for gadgets" which I can sort of agree with :P On the other hand, books are portable, they don't need to be charged, etc. Another important thing is that books are far less valuable (excluding textbooks) than an electronic, so it less of a hit to lose one.

So, at the moment, I don't think books are becoming obsolete just yet. Perhaps in the future, only time will tell. Honestly, I hope they do not, because that would mean lots of bookstores would be damaged.

Though books may be available through electronic means, there is no denying that having the physical book is still preferred in terms of ease of use, barring things like search functions. You can bookmark it, pass it on to people easily, and if you aren't using the Kindle it's probably a lot more tolerable to use than scrolling through a PDF.

I don't honestly see them going away any time soon, or even in the future, unless someone develops a mass-produced technology that somehow functions more smoothly than holding something physically. Like books being stored on their own separate tablet or something. It would save space and paper.

But until then, no. Even if physical books are rendered obsolete in any sense, the value of written works is unchanged - I would say especially so since things are so available electronically now, that people can both read and write their own novels with ease.